Because it continues to air amid the 2025 TV schedule, Chicago Fireplace remains to be bringing the motion and hitting followers of their feels. All through the present’s 13 seasons, there have been a revolving door of solid members. Some have lasted fairly a very long time, whereas others solely a season or two. Though most characters which have left Firehouse 51 willingly left, there have been a couple of that had been sadly killed off, leaving followers heartbroken. With that, Yuri Sardarov is opening up about Otis’ dying, and let’s simply fake I don’t have tears in my eyes.
Sardarov was an authentic solid member on the NBC drama, taking part in firefighter Brian “Otis” Zvonecek through the first seven seasons. Following an intense Season 7 finale that noticed 51 speeding to the scene of fireplace at a mattress manufacturing unit, Otis suffered extreme accidents. He sacrificed himself to guard civilians from a boiler explosion, and he died at Gaffney Chicago Medical Middle with Cruz by his facet within the Season 8 premiere. Though the character’s bittersweet exit might have appeared sudden, it was truly one thing that Sardarov knew in his coronary heart it was proper, telling TV Insider:
I’ve recognized Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, who created the present together with [Dick] Wolf. I’d recognized them prior, they usually had been those who got here to me with the chance to do the present. I used to be so grateful. It’s nonetheless the best factor to ever occur to me. The neighborhood, friendships we constructed. We’re a household. Any time I’m in Chicago, I see Joe [Miñoso]. I see Miranda [Rae Mayo].. I moved to the place I moved to in LA as a result of Monica Raymund let me keep at her home throughout COVID, and I fell in love with the realm. We had been a household. There got here a degree I instructed Derek and mentioned, ‘I feel I’m able to go.’ It was my choice. I didn’t understand how they had been going to put in writing me off.
I can not think about being an actor and receiving the information that your character is being written out of a present. Nevertheless, I am glad that Sardarov left of his personal accord. Nonetheless, the tip end result was some of the heartbreaking moments on Chicago Fireplace. Not solely did Cruz need to say goodbye to Otis, however Joe Miñoso additionally needed to bid farewell Sardarov and vice versa in actual life. When it got here to his character’s ultimate moments, Sardarov apparently had fairly a time:
There’s a finality to it. So, it was deeply emotional. In that scene the place I’m dying and on my deathbed and [Joe] Cruz is subsequent to me. The emotion I’m conjuring could be very actual as a result of that was the final scene I shot. It’s troublesome when you’ve gotten objective as an individual. Whenever you’re on a community tv present and waking up each day at 5 a.m. when it’s -20.
Whereas there was a finality to Otis’ dying, it was nonetheless fairly devastating and grotesque. It is onerous not to wonder if Otis might’ve been naturally written out in one other manner. Nevertheless, throughout a earlier interview, Sardarov mentioned that the dying was crucial since he wished to maneuver on, and it was one thing that followers would not count on. Apparently, he and sequence co-creator Derek Haas talked about it for a very long time. Now, I’m crying once more simply fascinated by it.
Despite the fact that Yuri Sardarov felt it was time for him to go away Chicago Fireplace, it doesn’t sound prefer it was simple. Even as we speak, over 5 years after his exit, he nonetheless retains the sequence near him, sometimes sharing photographs from set on his Instagram. It additionally wasn’t simple for him to utterly transfer on, as he admitted that it’s taken some time for him to determine what’s subsequent. Nonetheless, he says that the tip end result was in the end value it:
You’re exterior together with your brothers and sisters, carrying a ladder all day and sweating in your go well with. Then abruptly to not have that, it’s an actual shock to the system. It has taken me a while, if I’m being trustworthy, to determine what’s subsequent for me. I do suppose for all of us to not turn into Sebastian’s, typically we now have to take the onerous highway and stroll away from the factor that’s giving us pleasure and humble ourselves slightly bit right here and there.
Chicago Fireplace has seen some brutal deaths all through its run, together with Shay’s in Season 3 and Hawkins’ demise in Season 11. Otis’ tragic dying in Season 8 is actually onerous to overlook. So long as Fireplace continues, I will stay frightened in regards to the fates of the primary characters. I simply hope that no matter occurs, any actor who exits might be happy with the conclusion of their character’s arc like Yuri Sardarov is. Anybody eager to relive the present’s hardest installments can stream them with a Peacock subscription.